1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing apparatuses, information processing methods, and programs and recording media used therewith. In particular, the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and information processing method for easily handling, by using a general purpose computer, a recording or playback apparatus, such as a disk drive having a file system therein, and to a program and recording medium used therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it has been requested that recording and playback of high bit rate audiovisual (AV) data on, for example, an optical disc, be performed.
Accordingly, the assignee of the present invention has already proposed a disc drive (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-005895) that periodically records a plurality of data series, such as video data and audio data associated therewith, on an optical disc so that their boundaries coincide with boundaries, such as sectors, of the optical disc.
According to this disc drive, the video data and the audio data are recorded, to some extent, collectively in consecutive recording areas on the optical disc. Thus, the collective data can be read and recorded without seeking.
In addition, a boundary between video data and audio data coincides with a boundary between sectors on the optical disc. Thus, one sector does not have any mixture of video data and audio data. Accordingly, for example, only the video data or only the audio data can be read. In other words, for example, when only the video data is needed, only the video data can be read from the optical disc. Compared with a case in which one sector has a mixture of video data and audio data, only the video data can be read more efficiency (at high speed). This also applies to the audio data.